In this solo tutorial, bonsai artist Harry Harrington demonstrates the autumn pruning and wiring of a seven‑year‑old yamadori Hawthorn (Cotinus monogena) known as “The Three Amigos,” a tree cultivated with Spanish collaborators José Redondo, Álvaro Ramos, and María Rodríguez. Harrington explains why straight, youthful shoots need movement, describes his preferred wiring technique using 1.5 mm aluminium wire cut in long lengths to minimise waste, and emphasizes the importance of viewing the tree at roughly two‑thirds of its height to assess branch placement. He outlines his design philosophy of giving each branch its own space and light—crucial for deciduous bonsai—while noting the tree’s slow growth and future crown‑building plans. The video blends practical bonsai methods with design theory and a brief nod to the collaborative origins of the specimen.
Chapters
Hi, welcome to my new studio here in Aylesbury, and today I'm going to be taking you through the autumn pruning and wiring of a Yamadori Hawthorn, a Cotinus monogena that I collected 7 years ago with a couple of very good Spanish friends. José Redondo and Álvaro Ramos. The actual tree is known as the Three Amigos, as the, the pots from María Rodríguez of Spain makes a nice trio of 3 very good Spanish friends who have been involved in the development of this tree. Straight branches in the branch structure give the appearance of youth and immaturity. So one of my purposes today will be to wire any new shoots that have very, very straight lines and just put some movement into there. This is particularly helpful to do when the, the shoots are young, as they're far more pliable than when the tree gets older, when the branch gets thicker. So I'm going to work my way over the branch structure applying some wire, which will probably be about 1.5mm aluminium wire. So I'll start with this shoot here. It's, uh, really quite straight and would benefit from quite a lot of movement happening on it. It's not necessary for me to, to wire the entire branch as long as the, the previous sections are positioned correctly and have movement. So I'm just going to wire the new section that's grown through 2023. Movement is then put Into the branch, up and down, the lift at the tip, and then left and right. And some people don't particularly enjoy wiring, but I think there's a point where it becomes almost second nature and you can work with almost without thinking about what you're doing. And then it can actually be quite therapeutic. Plus you're building up the tree and the improving the design as you work. So you can stand back and see some benefits almost immediately. My preferred method for applying wire is to cut a long section so I'm not constantly going back to the, the roll of wire and trying to second-guess the, the exact length that I need. What will happen is I'll get to the end of this length of wire and there may be a little bit left, but it's a relatively minimal amount of wastage, and it's a far quicker way of applying the wire and manipulating the wire. It's important to look at the tree at the correct height, which is around 2/3 of its overall height. So your eye level should be around here, and it's at this point, with the absolute front view taken, that you can see the branches sitting out and having their own position. Now, there's still some areas that are empty on this tree around here. And also I want to build up a much more of a crown in future years. I'll need to wait until I get better extensions coming out. This could be a long process. It's a relatively slow-growing tree because it's very old, but it will get there eventually. So with all the branches wired up that I, I wish to move, I'm now positioning each branch so it reaches out into its own, uh, place in the branch structure. I'm not trying to group them up into pads or clouds, but giving each piece, um, its own place, its own light. This is really, really important when you're constructing deciduous trees. Deciduous trees will reach for the light rather than trying to clump up as you may get with a pine or a juniper.
